Thoughts on 5 A-Levels?

In my country, English and Maths is compulsory in A-levels and the student has to choose 3 other subjects. Isn't it too much? No student seems to care or take stress about it though. Are A-levels that hard or the students here are just insanely talented?

Reply 1

sotor

14

5 a levels would be really hard here.

are they definately the same A levels? and nkt just equivalent qualifications?

my family is from holland and there they sit 6-7 subjects at a level equiv, but the course is structured differently to allow this.

Reply 2

ImFreakingBrett

OP

6

Its CIE A-Levels. Im taking about Nepal. I think its the same as regular A levels.

Original post by sotor

5 a levels would be really hard here.

are they definately the same A levels? and nkt just equivalent qualifications?

my family is from holland and there they sit 6-7 subjects at a level equiv, but the course is structured differently to allow this.

Reply 3

sotor

14

interesting then! i would never take 5, im taking 3 now and that is plenty

Reply 4

sophia5892

20

I took 5 A Levels and 1 AS Level in the old UK system which seems similar to the CIE system. I didn’t find it particularly tough going. I mean, I managed to work part time, do a few hours of dance/swimming/sports, driving lessons etc so not like I did nothing but study!

Many universities require GCSEs in English and Maths if not offered at a higher level. So perhaps your school makes them compulsory if your earlier qualifications wouldn’t be easily recognised at international universities? Avoids the need to take IELTS type tests too.

Or have you already done IGCSEs?

Reply 5

Greywolf.

22

Original post by ImFreakingBrett

In my country, English and Maths is compulsory in A-levels and the student has to choose 3 other subjects. Isn't it too much? No student seems to care or take stress about it though. Are A-levels that hard or the students here are just insanely talented?

Which country are you from?

Reply 6

Greywolf.

22

Your just talented if what you say is true, in my school for A levels you get per subject 6 hours of teaching time and an expectation you would do about 5 hours a day of revision (at school)

Original post by sophia5892

I took 5 A Levels and 1 AS Level in the old UK system which seems similar to the CIE system. I didn’t find it particularly tough going. I mean, I managed to work part time, do a few hours of dance/swimming/sports, driving lessons etc so not like I did nothing but study!

Many universities require GCSEs in English and Maths if not offered at a higher level. So perhaps your school makes them compulsory if your earlier qualifications wouldn’t be easily recognised at international universities? Avoids the need to take IELTS type tests too.

Or have you already done IGCSEs?

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 7

BobbySavv

3

Original post by ImFreakingBrett

In my country, English and Maths is compulsory in A-levels and the student has to choose 3 other subjects. Isn't it too much? No student seems to care or take stress about it though. Are A-levels that hard or the students here are just insanely talented?

Na, its actually easy ngl :tongue:

Reply 8

asdfgkillmenow

16

Original post by ImFreakingBrett

In my country, English and Maths is compulsory in A-levels and the student has to choose 3 other subjects. Isn't it too much? No student seems to care or take stress about it though. Are A-levels that hard or the students here are just insanely talented?

idk what country youre in but here we take 3 total and taking any more is not allowed cause its too much. how many hours per week of revision do you do ?

Reply 9

sophia5892

20

Original post by Greywolftwo

Your just talented if what you say is true, in my school for A levels you get per subject 6 hours of teaching time and an expectation you would do about 5 hours a day of revision (at school)

We had 5 hours per subject I think. Although one of my subjects was more (6 or 7?) because it was starting a language from scratch. And then I did the whole maths A Level in year 13 so had double hours for that.

One of my subjects was General Studies which I guess doesn’t really count. We didn’t have classes for that. Just 12 hours of tutorial time was dedicated to it and then booklets to take home and self study which I didn’t bother with. But my Year 13 timetable had 5 full subjects (my original 3 plus double maths) in it and it wasn’t a struggle.

Ironically the AS Level was the hardest/most time consuming for me (Art). Maths was my easiest by far.

It’s definitely a lot harder under the current A Level system with terminal exams. But not so difficult under the old system which is like the CIE programme the OP takes. Taking 4 A Levels (plus General Studies/Critical Thinking) used to be pretty common. Every college/sixth form I looked at would have let me do that. A couple offered 5 subjects not including GS/CT.

Theoretically, I could have taken 6 A Levels at my college with General Studies and an Extended Project and AS Critical Thinking. But extended project and AS Critical Thinking were enrichment activities I didn’t choose to do. And because of the ab-initio Italian having extra hours I could only fit 4 subjects in to my AS timetable.